AnimeCon Harem Bonus: 8A pt 30

   “HI you guys uh well so we’re on this really super cool scavenger hunt and if it’s possible at all do you think it’s cool if maybe any of you have a spare pair of p-panties we could borrow?!”

   Melanie’s entire breathless spiel was blurted out all at once in a single giddy rush, and the small gathering of four girls they’d accosted actually shrunk back in surprise. They seemed like stereotypical skittish geek girl friends from some nearby college, casual anime fans or maybe fanfiction writers. Only one of them sported an anime shirt—a retro Kuma-Yasha tee Jordyn had seen before, three of them were wearing backpacks, and all of them wore glasses. The girls let out nervous laughter and exchanged looks, appearing both amused and a little frightened.

   Puh-puh-puh-panties?! Geez Mel, could you sound any more like a weirdo pervert!? Jordyn stood quietly beside Melanie with a rigid smile in show of support for her friend’s ridiculous endeavor, too embarrassed now to step forward and say anything.

   “No, uh, sorry?” One of the girls laughed, and then as if in silent agreement all four of them ran off, giggling at each other as they disappeared down the hall. “I told you people here at the rave were doing drugs—”

   “Omigawddd, this is hard,” Melanie threw her hands up in mock defeat. “No one’s gonna just give us their underwear! Synn—you gotta ask next, it’s your turn!”

   “No way!” Jordyn grinned and shook her head. “You ask. C’mon, you ask just a few more, like, three or four more, and thennn… I’ll ask one. How’s that sound?”

   “What?!” Melanie gaped at her. “One?!!” How’s that fair?!”

   “Wellll, uh, you seeeee—I was the one who like, negotiated the terms down to just two pairs of panties!” Jordyn had taken a fumbling moment to grasp for an acceptable excuse, and then naturally lit up with a gorgeous smile when one came to her. “I mean, everyone’s sayin’ no, so just like imagine trying to come up with ten pairs.”

   “Agghhh,” Melanie groaned, stamping her foot. “C’mon—I see people over that way!”

   Jordyn blinked in surprise for a moment as Melanie immediately ran off, leaving her in the proverbial dust. Then, with a loud sigh of exasperation and a small laugh Jordyn clapped a palm over each boob and attempted to hurry after the girl. The elastane of her futuristic blue body glove allowed her tits to jut way out from her body in an extremely eye-catching way, but it wasn’t particularly intended to be running around in. Because her Null Suit cosplay design was meant to look as accurate as possible to the one from the Metrazoid games, even if that meant sacrificing comfort.

   Hah—crazy me, right? Jordyn could only put on a sheepish smile, holding her own jiggling chest in place as she tried to catch up to Melanie.

   Last year, the Null Suit had been her new costume to wear for all of Saturday—beneath the form-fitting fabric she’d taken care to place down vertical strips of breast tape that looped over each shoulder for support. This year, there was no tape in place. Jordyn had just wanted something comfy and maybe a little risque to slip into while she walked around and checked out the late night convention content. So, she’d ignored that little roll of titty tape stashed in her costume bag, telling herself she wouldn’t even be in the cosplay long and that there was no need to bother.

   It was embarrassing cupping herself as she trotted on, but Jordyn really didn’t mind it as much as she thought she might have. She’d found a friend, and they had a silly mission. Right now, dressing up in a sexy costume—one that hugged every intimate curve of her body—and freely running around an enormous complex at night was just fucking cool.

   The mostly empty halls, byways, overlooks and lobbies of the AnimeCon pavilion were all enormous open spaces—traversing them in cosplay made her feel like she was a real life video game character. The convention center’s structural supports were giant cylindrical pillars of concrete regularly spaced throughout each area, and they went on up and up as high as three or four stories tall in some areas. The distant upper reaches were the complex girders and glass of skylights long since gone dark, and running beneath it all made her feel as though she was exploring a space station or ancient temple or something. There was a sort of surreal magic to it that seemed to hark back younger, less serious days.

   ‘Cause here, I can finally cut loose a little!

   Most of the year she spent studying for her social work bachelor’s degree, which was to say being constantly tired, stressed, and irritable. It was an honest struggle to preserve her tiny little heart of optimism, and she did so by swaddling it in thick layers of dark humor and cynicism and then soaking the whole mess through with caffeine so that she could function. Lots of caffeine. Jordyn still felt genuinely proud in wanting to move into social work and tackle all the problems no one else wanted to deal with—but then again, on the other hand it rarely let her feel like a badass action babe on a mission right out of an anime.

   “Umm excuse me yes hi!” Melanie had already found another cosplay girl to approach, this one a cosplayer in a hakama who had her long orange hair pulled into a ponytail. 

   “Okay, so—we’re on this super rad scavenger hunt annnd we’re trying to collect pairs of panties? Do you, uh, I mean could you, could we borrow a pair from you, if that’s cool?!”

   “You’re… on a scavenger hunt, and you’re looking for panties?” The girl repeated with a flat stare. “Uhhh. I mean I have a pair you could have, but it’s like, all the way back at my hotel room?”

   “Oh, well that’s—oh,” Melanie’s hyper energy seemed to fall a notch and her shoulders sagged. “Well, thank you anyways!”

   “Thank you anyways!” Jordyn chimed in, all but dragging Melanie away from the bewildered girl.

   “It’s your turn to ask next!” Melanie laughed, fighting her way free of Jordyn’s hold and skipping her way out to the middle of the hall. “Go on, go—there’s two girls right over there!”

   “Alright fiiine,” Jordyn grinned, fixing the bangs of the long blonde Camus wig she was wearing. “Don’t be mad if I get a pair right away.”

   “No no, get two!” Melanie bounced from one foot to the other, her bust bobbing with the girl’s relentless motion. “Two pairs, and then we get magic hair. I want magic hair!!”

   “Okay, okay, calm your tits!” Jordyn took the initiative to step closer and send the girl a playful swat.

   To her surprise, Melanie froze and arched her back upon seeing Jordyn’s raised hand, thrusting those luscious jugs of hers forwards as if to receive the hit. Hesitant—but not backing down, Jordyn completed the motion and gave one of the girl’s fabric-straining knockers a very small pat. Okay, fine, Mel. Make it weird.

   “You can touch them if you want,” Melanie offered, stretching to push them out even further. “I don’t mind! Foxy was like, grabbing all over my butt earlier today. I don’t mind at all!”

   “...Maybe later,” Jordyn gave the girl a bemused look. “You just, uh, you keep doin’ your thing. You keep doin’ your thing, and hell, someone’s bound to drop their panties for us. Right?”

   “Right!” Melanie hopped up and down in excitement, her prodigious rack rising and sinking with enough force that the too-tight shirt rose up a little and the milky globes of underboob became visible.

   “Uhhh, well maybe not that much,” Jordyn said, confident enough now to reach over and tug Melanie’s shirt back down an inch or two. “Do your thing enough to get us some panties, but don’t do your thing so much we get kicked out.”

   “Right, yeah,” Melanie hiccuped. “Whoops. Uh, what’s the word? Moderation! That’s it. Moderation.”

   “Huh, you know the meaning of the word moderation,” Jordyn remarked, tilting her head.

   “Yeah?” Melanie said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

   “I dunno,” Jordyn teased. “There’s a punchline in there somewhere, but I lost it. Anyways. We’re gonna ask those two girls over there?”

   “Yep yep yep,” Melanie agreed. “You are, your turn to ask!”

   “Fiiiine,” Jordyn sighed, giving her wig a dramatic flick. “But, remember. Bouncy but not too bouncy. Cheerful but not too cheerful, not like, creepy cheerful. Moderation.”

   “Yeah, totally,” Melanie nodded with a vapid smile. “Of course. Duh. Moderation.”

    Suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, Jordyn took a deep breath, put on her game face, and crossed the convention carpet over to the pair of girls they’d spotted.

   “Hi! I’m Synn, and this is my partner in crime Melaneko,” Jordyn introduced herself with a friendly wave. “We’re actually playing this game right now, and—”

   “—We’re on a scavenger hunt!” Melanie interrupted.

   “—and we’ve been tasked with collecting the legendary item ‘girl’s panties,’” Jordyn explained. “I can’t wear any with this, because the lines show through, and they said it’s cheating if we just use Melaneko’s, because—”

   “Yeah that woulda been way easier,” Melanie pouted. “Then we’d already be halfway done!”

   “Uhh, you want our panties?!” The taller of the two girls in front of them had the decency to blush. “Like, our underwear?”

   “Yes, your… unmentionables,” Jordyn nodded. “It’s perfectly fine if you refuse, we’re not going to pressure you or anything. We just wanted to ask.”

   “Ummm,” the girl gave them both a skeptical look. “Well. No, I don’t think I’m… yeah, I’m not comfortable with that. But, you know who probably would be? Try a girl down the way there with her boyfriend, there’s this girl in a white cape thingie.”

   “Yeah! She might help you,” the other girl nodded. “Try asking her.”

   “Oh!” Jordyn blinked. “Uh—thank you. We’ll do that. Arigatou!”

   “Thank you!” Melanie performed a ninety-degree bow from the waist that would have made any Japanese salaryman proud. “Arigatou!”

   “Domo arigatou!” Jordyn waved.

   Then she held one arm across her chest and ducked away into a dash down the hall while Melanie was still distracted. It felt incredibly childish, but even stupid things like a cheat headstart were fun, and she was here at AnimeCon for that explicit purpose! Hearing Melanie let out a startled noise of surprise filled her with glee and sent tingling slivers of crystalline amethyst sparkling through her—wait, what?

   The sneaking sensation was one part prankster mirth, one part convention crush, and three parts purple prose and definitely felt weird.

   Not like, bad weird, though? Jordyn wet her lips as she ran. GOOD weird. It’s not exactly like playing practical jokes on my cousin and her friends at a con, but it’s like some of that familiarity is there? Even though Melanie and I like, barely even know each other. But I dunno, maybe I’d like to know her a lot more? In hands-on ways? It’s definitely super weird, but I’m kinda feelin’ it? It’s a vibe.

   “Eeuuurrrggahhh!” Melanie groaned out as she passed Jordyn at a full-on sprint. “Hah!”

   “Wow, competitive much?!” Jordyn joked, slowing her pace until she was able to lurch to a safe halt. “Jesus, Mel—fix your shirt!”

   To no one’s surprise, the sudden sprint had the girl’s giant pale breasts poking free of the tiny shirt, and Melanie crossed her arms over herself and then doubled over, panting with exertion and laughing and letting out a squeaky string of completely unintelligible gibberish that seemed incredibly cute.

   “You—you what?” Jordyn laughed, looking up and down the hallway.

   The attendees wandering around this late were sparse and few between but that didn’t mean there was no one, and down the way a bit one guy was looking over his shoulder at them while his friend was walking backwards with a broad smile, clearly having enjoyed the surprise Melanie wardrobe malfunction #3 view he’d caught a glimpse of. Jordyn gave the guys a helpless wave before standing over Melanie. For the most part it seemed like harmless fun, fanservice, as the girl had never seemed too bothered by people seeing a bit of tiddy.

   “I said no fair when I’m not wearing a bra and you’re so fast!” Melanie hiccuped again, unable to catch her breath.

   “Well, you were all runnin’ around before!” Jordyn shrugged.

   “That was before!” Melanie laughed, stumbling back up to her feet and swaying a little. “You’re like—you’re super fast!”

   “I never told you I was the star of the track team back in high school?!” Jordyn exclaimed.

   “You—no, you never told me that!” Melanie retorted.

   “Yeah, I was the thirtieth fastest runner,” Jordyn said with a straight face. “Out of thirty-three of us. Still the star though obviously, because—voila, I’m super cute!”

   Jordyn flashed a cute pose, lifting one foot up behind her and pointing with both hands at the dimples her cheeks formed when she displayed her biggest smile.

   “You are cute, and that’s, that’s—I still beat you, though!” Melanie laughed. “I just, can’t run for real! I’m not wearing a bra!”

   “I’m not wearing a bra either!” Jordyn threw up her hands.

   “Nobody’s wearing a bra!” Melanie joined her in throwing her arms up.

   “Damn, good thing we’re not on a bra hunt then, right?” Jordyn turned her outstretched hands towards the other girl so that they could high-five. “Or, it’d be even more tough.”

   “Yeah, I guess!” Melanie exclaimed with a look of delight, rising up onto her tiptoes so that she could clap both of her hands against Jordyn’s. “Just, uhh—”

   The two girls found themselves standing awkwardly close to each other, but for a long, baffling moment it was as if all the awkward in their awkward moment had been replaced with something else entirely. Jordyn found herself struggling to look away from Melanie’s big blue eyes, they were way too easy to get lost in. That completely accepting— if a little ditzy—smile of hers kept sending mysterious tones of vibration through the purple lattice formations that seemed to fill Jordyn’s head and made it impossible to think.

   Yeah, it’s like… crystal chimes, Jordyn was still wearing her own dumb smile. Or wine glass music. RESONATION stuff. It’s… weird and nice? Like, I kinda want to kiss her. No, I guess I REALLY want to kiss her right now. It’s so nice. But… what even is—

   “I love you,” Melanie blurted out. “Like, people always get all cross at me ‘cause I say that to everyone, but I love you! I just do. I love everyone! But, uhhh right now I like, really—”

   “Uhhhh moderation Mel, geez,” Jordyn let out an uneasy laugh as she felt her heart race. “We, um. Whew. You hadta go makin’ it weird!”

   “Sorry!” Melanie did another one of those little hops she always did, but this one came off as particularly unapologetic. “I mean, like, don’t take it as weird or anything. I just say whatever pops into my head, I’ve got like, no filter, hah ha! So, yeah.”

   “Right! Cool,” Jordyn blew out a slow breath before continuing. “I think, uh, I think for now we should be lookin’ for that one girl those other girls told us about. Right? Girl in a cape?”

   “Right!” Melanie nodded. “The woman in the white cape!”

   “Hola,” the brunette dressed in a white cape gave them an exaggerated wave from where she stood some fifteen feet down the hall from them. “Uh… yo. You mean me, right?”

   “Sorry, hi!” Melanie giggled. “Yeah, I think we’re looking for you!”

   The pale young woman seemed to be in her mid-twenties, and had eyeliner drawn on in a winged feline flick out from her eyes that gave her a mischievous air. The white cape she wore looked to be soft linen, hanging over both her shoulders and even clasping twice in the front like a cloak to more completely conceal her body. She seemed to have drawn her arms back into the cloth of the cape completely and kept them out of sight, but by contrast her legs were not only bare, but she was wandering the con completely barefoot as well.

   VERY mysterious…

   “Well fuck, guess you’ve found me,” The girl in the cape chuckled. “How can I help you? Were you looking for information on stuff, or…?”

   “They said, uh, the girls down that way, they said you could give us your panties, maybe?” Melanie babbled out. “Scavenger hunt. We’re trying to get panties for this like, it’s like a scavenger hunt sorta thing. If we bring back two pairs of panties, they’ll give us magic hair!”

   “Oh, cool,” the girl nodded. “Awesome. Well. Huh. I’d actually love to help you guys out, buuut, well, my hands are kinda tied right now.”

   “Aww,” Melanie sighed. “Shoot. Well, thank you anywa—”

   “No, I mean like, literally tied,” the girl twisted slightly, and Jordyn could see from the bulge of cape in the back that the girl’s arms both seemed to be fixed in place behind her.

   “Literally tied with like, rope. So, uh—I’m totally down, it’s cool with me if you take my panties, but you’re gonna have to actually figure out how to get ‘em off me.”

/// Merry Christmas!